Step by Step for unboxing and Cam prep

[Mark Thorpe]

Hey, may be an idea for someone to write a step by step guide or a "RED One for Dummies" guide to the camera prep steps from unboxing to getting ready to shoot.

Step 1: Open box down to Step ?: Hit record.

Items like Black Calibration and setting back focus need to be set and for people, like me, coming in from 1/3" CCD land this is all complete jargon and alien.

Just a thought. Unboxing #954 today after months of waiting, I've been in South Africa and the Camera in San Diego for the past months!!

Cheers,
Mark.

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

Congrats, Mark! Nice to see you're finally united with your new toy.

Some of it is subjective in regards to accessories, here's a few suggestions to make life with RED easier and surprisingly a few points here are often overlooked by a lot of new RED owners.

Buy a little toolbox just for use with RED to hold all the little bolts, hex keys, etc. You will probably want to pick up a nicer set of hex keys, I recommend an all-in-one hex key tool so they're always in one place and you're not losing the little ones.

Familiarize yourself with the bits and pieces, get to know what is what... Sounds simple, but there's nothing more annoying than asking someone to hand you a universal mount and they hand you a top mount instead or ask "what's that?".

If you will be using the RED bottom plate, you will also want the RED cheese plate for mounting the camera solidly to a tripod or other support system. The shoulder dovetails don't tend fit tightly to make a tripod / support mounted RED completely rigid. I highly recommend using an Arri baseplate instead of the RED bottom plate, you will obviously need a proper Arri dovetail plate for your tripod or other support rig when using the Arri base.

Top mounts are a good idea. They let you mount a handle system and upper rods as well as the Element Technica top cheese plate. I keep top mounts on the camera almost all the time. ET offers 15mm top mounts while RED's are 19mm. Decide what size rods you will need. I prefer to run all 15mm or all 19mm on the camera and not mix. However, that isn't always practical as all of RED's gear is 19mm and not everything out there comes in both sizes. Know your local market and what Arriflex configurations prevail in your area. Some rental houses won't have all the 19mm gear you may need to rent, but may have it in 15mm. In California, you're in a land of 15mm... 19 is becoming more common, but a 15mm Arri plate and 15mm top mounts (or the topside combo) from Element Technica would be good items to have.

I was under the impression that a black shading calibration was done by RED prior to shipping the camera. However, I had to do one on mine because my first images had some very odd noise and patterning. You will have to do this when changing firmware builds anyway. It's easy to do, I recommend also covering the lens mount with something that will block out all light like a few heavy blankets or do it in a darkroom, etc.. Don't just trust the body cap to block 100% of the light.

Back focus should be set on your mount when you receive your camera. But make sure you have a way to periodically check the camera and also make sure your lenses are checked periodically or you rent from someone that properly maintains their glass. Nothing more annoying than pulling a tape to your subject at 30ft and setting the lens focus to 30ft and seeing that you're nowhere even close to being in focus. Good rental houses and lens techs will have collimating equipment and other gear to assist you with these matters. If you will be using Canon or Nikon glass with RED, then you will be more on your own. Use a lens that you know to be in proper working order with focus marks that line up properly. Set the backfocus using that lens, a good chart and a monitor. The focus assist tools in camera can be a lot of help here too. I've seen it done, but haven't had to tweak the backfocus on my RED yet.

Have an offload and backup procedure in place. You don't always need a dedicated DIT. You just need to be sure you have a plan for wrangling your footage so it doesn't get lost. As you work with it all, you'll find what works for you and settle into a routine. If you've worked with P2 media, then you're most of the way there -- essentially the same thing, just the file structure and post tools are different. Larger file sizes, shorter record times vs. P2 as well.

Play with configuring the camera. Put it on a tripod and experiment with different rod and accessory placements to find configurations you like. Find one you're comfortable with and shoot something.

Have fun.

 

[Mark Thorpe]

Thanks Jeff,
Appreciate the help. Haven't had so much fun since Christmas, or at least it feels like it's rolled around again.

Cheers mate,
Mark.

 

[Russ Campbell]

Hey Mark. Been Christmas here in SA today as well. Had lots of fun unboxing. Batteries on charge. Tomorrow, fun, fun, fun - if I can figure out how to turn it on.:blink: Enjoy and stay in touch.

 

[Brent Carter]

We are working on a "quickstart" guide, yes.

BC"

 

[Mark Thorpe]

Congratulations Russ and Cindy,
Its a blast to be celebrating this time of the year.

Cheers,
Mark.
P.S The On button is located in that big recess in the front of the camera, the big RED square .......... hehehehe!!